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According to a October 2023 deposition given by former University of Southern Mississippi president Rodney Bennett, Brett Favre promised to fund an entire volleyball arena project for the university.
The deposition was given as part of the civil lawsuit filed against Brett Favre by the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS).
“My understanding, from my early January [2017] meeting with Brett was that Brett was going to pay, personally, for whatever the cost of the facility was,” Front Office Sports reports Bennett testified. “… The agreement was, between Brett and me in my office, that he would pay for the entire amount, in an effort to have that facility able to move along the continuum faster than it would if it were a state capital project.”
The lawsuit alleges Favre entered into “a handshake deal” to “personally guarantee the funds necessary for the brick-and-mortar construction of a volleyball facility.” But in a Tuesday filing, Favre’s attorneys pointed to Bennett’s testimony where Bennett’s stated donors “have a right to change their mind” when it comes to funding promises.
Favre, whose own biographer called him “an idiot” last June, has been fighting allegations made against him as part of the welfare funding scandal, “has raised multiple objections to every request,” according to MDHS, citing more than two dozen of them in October.
A attorney MDHS asked Favre during his December deposition, “Do you know of any reason why Dr. Bennett, now chancellor at University of Nebraska, would lie?”
“That’s a good question. I don’t. … I have no idea,” Favre replied.
Favre’s lawyers wrote in the NFL Hall of Famer’s defense, “The allegedly fraudulent transfers, which took place at the end of 2017, thus could not have been a ‘benefit’ to Favre because, even if Favre had said he would pay for the cost of the facility, Favre had the right to change his mind and did change his mind long before those transfers were made or even contemplated.”
MDHS alleges that after Brett Favre was “unable to convince his friends and connections to donate enough money to meet his obligation to fund the construction of the volleyball facility,” he turned to Nancy and Zach New of the Mississippi Community Education Center and John Davis, former head of MDHS, for funding.
“Nancy thank you again!!!” Favre texted Nancy New in July 2017. “John [Davis] mentioned 4 million and not sure if I heard him right. Very big deal and can’t thank you enough.”
In August, Anthony Olivieri of ESPN wrote, “At the heart of the dispute between MDHS and Favre is a volleyball facility built in 2019 at Favre’s alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi. Favre donated his own money and helped raise funds for the facility, and text messages, which have become public in legal filings as part of the civil lawsuit, show he pushed state officials for funding during the time his daughter was on the team.”
Brett Favre, thus far, has not been charged with any crime.
Nancy New, on the other hand, pleaded guilty to federal and state charges of bribery, fraud against the government, and mail fraud. John Davis pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the State of Mississippi of millions of dollars in federal funds.